With a little squeak of distress, Vian pulled up the hood of his shirt to cover his ears against the slow falling drizzle. Even though Bobby had repeatedly reassured him that it wasn't always raining in Bellingham, he had yet to see the city without heavy clouds and veiled by thin drizzle. His only consolation was that this would be his last visit to the place for the foreseeable future.

He was here to pick up Bobby to help him move his few possessions over to his new flat on P2.

Just the thought that Bobby would now be living in Disari, only a short hop by glider away from Yaden's Island, made Vian giddy with joy and his tail twitch with happy anticipation. Not that Espen was far for someone who could get a long distance port at any time from the Psions' Guild, like Vian could. It just felt far away. Having Bobby so much closer made Vian feel like he would be that much better able to protect his boyfriend. He wasn't quite sure from what - but he would definitely lay his life on the line to do it.

The thought that Bobby was now officially his boyfriend made him grin. He had asked Bobby after they had gone flat hunting in Disari, when they had celebrated finding a cheap, reasonably nice place for Bobby to stay. Maybe a cheap pizza joint with ancient grease stains on the table wasn't the luminous place a Phoenix Knight to-be should use to ask the important question whether Bobby wanted to be his boyfriend. But Bobby had said yes and the pizza had been quite good so Vian had no regrets.

Well, semi-official boyfriend. So far, the Phoenix Knight PR-team was still in the dark. As was Wayne.

Vian sighed deeply, pulling his hood deeper over his twitching ears. He still hadn't worked up the courage to tell his pet that he was dating his younger brother. It wasn't really that he was scared of Wayne's threats to shave his tail or do other unspeakable things to him if he ever so much as looked at Bobby. What he was worried about was the peace and easy camaraderie that made living in their small hut by the beach so nice. If Wayne got really upset, that would be lost. A least for a while.

Of course he was fully aware that it was getting worse with each day he waited. He didn't need Colin or Siva telling him that. Which they didn't. They just looked. He'd tell Wayne. When he was ready.

Right now, he just wanted to hug Bobby close, bury his nose against his boyfriend's neck, deeply, inhale the mixed scents of pastries, slightly musty attic and that one scent that was entirely uniquely Bobby.

After an especially ugly fight with his mother, Bobby had moved out from the family flat to spend the last few weeks before his move holed up in an unused storage room under the roof of the café he was working at. His endless charm had somehow wriggled that favour out of his boss.

Vian gazed inside the windows of the Crown & Lance longingly. The café was lit with golden light and the many pastries on display looked gorgeous. Standing outside in the rain it looked like a heavenly refuge. With food.

Bobby had made him promise that this time he would wait outside. The last time he had picked up Bobby from work, the whole café had been in an uproar over the Phoenix Knight squire suddenly appearing in their midst. That most of the elderly, female customers seemed to consider him irresistibly adorable hadn't helped either.

Vian grimaced at the memory. Sir Ekai had made no secret of the fact how glad he was that soon, he wouldn't be the cutest Phoenix Knight on the board anymore. Vian didn't quite get how the PR-team planned on marketing him as cute and sweet. After all, he had a rather bad temper and a talent for wholesale destruction. And his people skills still left a lot to be desired. The PR-team didn't seem daunted by these facts at all.

They were hungrily waiting for the day when he would be sworn in as a full knight, when they would be able to unleash the full merchandise storm they had planned for him. It made Vian's fur crawl to think of the fake ears that were worn on a headband, the clip on tail, the furry gloves and house shoes. Not that his feet were as big as those ridiculous house shoes. Actually his feet fit into those shoes comfortably.

Vian sighed impatiently. What the hell was keeping Bobby so long? Again, he looked through the window inside to try and spot his boyfriend among the waiters. Maybe he had to help out with some last minute emergency. But Bobby was nowhere to be seen.

After waiting a few more minutes, Vian's hood was starting to get so wet it soaked through on his ears. Definitely too wet to wait any longer. Maybe one of the other waiters would know where Bobby was and if not at least Vian would be able to order a cup of hot chocolate and wait inside. He slipped in as inconspicuously as possible not to draw the attention of the cooing old ladies and sneaked over to the door that let from the public part of the café back to the kitchen.

The next waiter who came through carried a big tray full of various pots and cups smelling of the all hot drinks known to mankind. She still stopped when she noticed Vian.

"Can I help you?" she asked, balancing her load with admirable skill.

"I'm looking for Bobby." Vian said, smiling at her hopefully. "My boyfriend." He added, just to hear the sound of it.

"Oh." She breathed, apparently just recognizing him now. "It's you."

She looked a little faint and steadied herself against the wall, while Vian got ready to catch the tray. There was no need for his chivalrous rescue, though, as she quickly recovered.

"It's a great honour to meet you, Sir Vian." She smiled back at him, looking rather cute herself. "Bobby has talked so much about you."

Vian didn't bother correcting her on the 'sir'. He also resisted asking what Bobby had said about him. "Have you seen him?" he asked instead. "I was supposed to pick him up about half an hour ago."

Now a frown appeared on her face. "He went out last night to say goodbye to his friends. For a last bar crawl, he said. Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him today at all. I'm not sure he actually came back."

Her words made icy fingers creep up Vian's back that had nothing to do with the trickle of cold water which had found its way inside his shirt. There were plenty of hostile forces out there who had reason to harm his family. If they somehow had found out about Bobby, they might have done any number of horrible things. Vian felt his tail fluff up at the mere thought. If anyone had hurt Bobby, he would tear them limb from limb. While his father fully subscribed to the Emperor's maxim of trying a peaceful approach first, Vian himself leaned more to the shoot first, ask questions later way of the Empress.

For a moment, he considered calling in his family, but then he checked himself. Maybe Bobby had just crashed on some friend's couch. Maybe it was something completely harmless and calling in help would alert Wayne to the fact that Vian was dating Bobby. Definitely not the way he wanted Wayne to find out. He'd try to figure this out on his own first. After all, he was aspiring to become a Phoenix Knight. He better be able to find his missing boyfriend without running to daddy on the first sign of trouble.

"What bars does he usually hang out at?" Vian asked.

He'd simply follow the procedures of investigation he had been trained in at the Tower. All that hard work had to be good for something after all.

The girl quickly handed her tray over to some other server and then gave him a rather short list of Bobby's favourite clubs and even marked them on a little fold out tourist map that she grabbed from the stack on the counter. Vian thanked her and then noticed her wide-eyed, hopeful expression that mixed with a shy biting of her lower lip.

"You want an autograph?" he asked her with a cheeky grin that was only a little forced, considering how worried he was about Bobby. After all, he still had an image to uphold for the Emperor and the Empire.

"Please?" she cooed in that fan girl way he hated.

"Sure."

He quickly signed his name onto the back of recipe she held out to him and watched with just a little exasperation as she clutched it to her chest.

"Thank you." She breathed and then fluttered her eyelashes at him. "If you can't find Bobby, I come off work in about two hours…"

"Erh…" Vian answered rather defensively, his right ear twitching rather violently. Not bothering with a more elaborate answer he fled the café, map a little crumpled in his fist.

---

It was a perfect day to sleep in and have a strong coffee and hot bread rolls right next to the open fireplace. Antonio Mostarda stretched his legs closer to the heat and sighed contentedly. Outside, a cold wind was driving an equally cold rain almost horizontally against the panes of his salon window. Even though it was past noon, Antonio was still clad in his dressing robe and comfortable slippers. The business he was running was mostly nocturnal, so getting up late was a necessity as well as a luxury.

Running a moderately sized crime cartel was quite a lot of work. When everyone working for you was a crook, it took constant control to keep things running smoothly. There were a few gems in his family enterprise but just as many rotten apples.

He took a small sip from his coffee and then unfolded the newspaper to study the sports pages. Betting was a large part of his organization and his personal favourite. Especially horse and dog racing.

With no appointments in the next two hours, he planned on a relaxed early afternoon wake up period when a knock on the door startled him out of his enjoyment. Not a soft, gentle knock either, like all his servants were required to use, but a hard, impatient rap.

"What?!" he barked, rather annoyed at the interruption.

The door opened immediately to admit Marco. The huge man doubled as his personal bodyguard and enforcer. Antonio had picked him up years ago when he had been just a street thug teenager and moulded him into a respectable young man with quite impeccable manners. Right now, though, Marco looked almost grey and his hands were nervously clenching on the seam of his jacket. With deep surprise, Antonio realized that his big, bad bodyguard looked very, very scared.

He didn't wait for Antonio to ask why he had been so unceremoniously disturbed either.

"Mr. Mostarda, there a noble downstairs who wants to talk to you immediately." And if that wasn't bad enough, Marco added. "A Phoenix Knight squire. Sir Vian Dracon."

A noble demanding to speak with you was never good news. It usually meant that you had done something to piss them off and that could quickly end fatal. Antonio always tried to make sure that he was on the very best of terms with the local nobility, doing anything in his power to please them. That way he would have someone who might be inclined to benevolently shield him should he ever get on the bad side of some other noble.

With a Phoenix Knight squire, that option was void. Especially with one who's father and sister were Phoenix Knights. And who wielded the psychic powers of a minor deity. And had the quite obvious favour of the Emperor.

Antonio kept up to date with imperial news and Sir Vian Dracon was bad, bad news. If he decided to level all of Bellingham, eradicating every living soul in town, likely no one would ask why and assume he'd had good reason. So if he decided to shred some lowly commoner like Antonio Mostarda, nobody would even blink.

Despite the heat from the fireplace, he was suddenly in a cold sweat.

"Did he say what he wants?" he asked Marco, his voice now as shaky as that of his bodyguard.

"He said he is looking for his boyfriend." Marco answered. He swallowed hard. "He seems to be very angry."

Even with his thoughts racing at light speed, Antonio couldn't come up with an explanation why Sir Vian would come to him looking for a boyfriend. He was dealing in drugs, prostitution and betting. Not in murder, robbery or kidnapping. And even if he did he certainly wouldn't have touched any noble's boyfriend with a ten foot pole. Maybe he would even be able to convince Sir Vian of his innocence before he was torn limb from limb.

Or he could send down Marco and make the boy stall for time while he himself tried to flee. Antonio quickly dismissed the idea. Triggering the Dracon's hunting reflex was the last thing he wanted to do. Maybe some brilliant supervillain had a chance of hiding from a noble with the resources of the Phoenix Knight Tower at his beck and call. A small time mobster from Bellingham, Espen, certainly would be caught rather quickly and painfully.

"Mr. Mostarda?" Marco reminded him anxiously that he was still standing that and that there was an angry killer psychic in his hallway, waiting for him.

"Yes," Antonio raked his shaking hands through suddenly sweaty hair, "yes, I'm coming." He needed to steady himself on the armrest of his chair as his legs didn't really want to support his effort to face the threat.

Marco fell into step with him, being the usual looming shadow, but in this moment Antonio found his presence rather distracting and even threatening. He couldn't afford any mistakes that might aggravate the noble further.

"Wait up here." He told Marco and the huge man looked intensely grateful and relieved.

Sir Vian was impossible to miss.

The young Dracon was stalking up and down the entrance hallway of the manor like a predator looking for something to tear to pieces. Being an avid reader of the Quest Log, Antonio easily recognized the half alien. Only that on the glossy photos in the magazine, Sir Vian's teeth didn't look quite as sharp, his alien green eyes weren't full of barely suppressed rage, his ears not almost entirely flattened against his skull. That he was also quite wet from the rain didn't make him look any more friendly.

He rounded on Antonio before he was even halfway down the stairs.

"Where is he?!" Sir Vian hissed, baring his teeth even more.

"Milord." Antonio opened the conversation with a deep bow. Showing a noble submission was usually a good way to live another minute. "I'm afraid my servant hasn't informed me who exactly it is you are looking for, but I assure you I will do everything in my power to assist you."

For a moment he was sure the young noble would give in to the murderous rage that flashed across his face, but then Sir Vian breathed deeply, visibly fighting to calm himself. It felt like standing in an icy gale to Antonio and he couldn't resist the need to hunch in on himself.

"I am looking for Bobby Dover," Sir Vian growled, "and I have been told that he was last seen being carried out of a club by your nephew Julio. Drugged and unconscious."

The name wouldn't have rung any bell with Antonio if it hadn't been mentioned in conjunction with his nephew Julio. The youngest son of his sister was a lazy, arrogant parasite in Antonio's opinion, but he also was the absolute darling of his sister and in her eyes couldn't do any wrong. So she had talked Antonio into giving the brat a position in his organization. Putting him in charge of the scheduling for Antonio's high class prostitutes had seemed like a safe enough choice. But lately the ungrateful idiot had constantly been complaining about pretty much everything. Including one Bobby Dover who apparently refused to work for him.

With deep dread, Antonio realized that maybe Julio had taken it upon himself to 'convince' the boy.

Julio was family. Which meant Antonio had an obligation to protect him.

Antonio needed about two seconds to decide that those obligations had become void the instant Julio kidnapped the boyfriend of a Phoenix Knight squire. He'd rather explain to his sister how her precious son had ended up squashed to a pulp by a noble then end up squashed himself.

"I am devastated to hear of my nephew's transgression against your boyfriend." He declared, his voice still trembling with very real fear. "He deserves whatever punishment you see fit, milord…"

"Where is he?!" He was interrupted by a Sir Vian.

An excellent question. There were a few places where his idiot nephew might have holed up with his prey. Antonio mopped some sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his dressing robe.

"If you give me a moment, milord, I will make a few phone calls and try to locate Julio for you." He pleaded.

"You have five minutes." The Dracon growled.

Antonio got to his study in record time. With his mind kicked into overdrive by fear and adrenalin, he at least knew exactly who to call. Julio never went anywhere without his merry little band of sidekicks. While Julio rarely answered his phone when his uncle called, his cronies had quickly learned that they could not afford such antics.

When Antonio hurried back to the waiting noble three minutes, later he had an address. And helpful directions on how to get there.

"I am so, so sorry for Julio's behaviour." He repeated, once more bowing deeply. He was desperately trying to come up with more grovelling, but only came up blank. Offering to shoot his own nephew probably wouldn't appease the Dracon.

"If I find out you had anything to do with this, I will come back and kill you." Sir Vian declared, quite coldly and calm which made it all the more scary. "Don't think there is anywhere you can hide. You can't."

Then he turned around and stalked out.

When he had cleared the door, Antonio's legs gave out. With an undignified little squeak, he crumpled where he stood.

He was still wringing his dressing robe, muttering a prayer of thanks, when Marco found him a few minutes later.

---

The first thing Bobby noticed through the haze was that wail.

It was a high-pitched sound, ebbing and flowing, almost soothing. There were moments of relative quiet, in which Bobby was almost able to fall asleep again.

Then the wail rose once more, each time managing to get Bobby a little more awake despite the drugs still coursing in his bloodstream.

Groaning, Bobby turned to his other side, hoping to get at least a little more sleep. His head throbbed with pain, every muscle ached and he just wanted to sleep a tiny little bit longer. Was that really too much to ask for?

Somewhere outside, the wail subsided. For a moment, Bobby was filled with gratitude for the silence, hoping he would manage to slip back into sleep once again. But then he realized it wasn't quiet, not exactly.

Instead of the howling wail, he could hear someone sobbing, babbling something incoherent in deep, ragged breaths, interrupted by jagged breaks that spoke of unbearable pain.

Horrified, Bobby opened his eyes.

He was lying in a narrow bed underneath a scratchy blanket. The room was lit by a cheap, naked light bulb, and through the open door, Bobby could guess daylight on the far end of the hallway.

Where the hell was he?

Even though he tried hard to remember, Bobby was rather sure he had never before been to this place. And thinking of it, he didn't have any recollection whatsoever on how he had ended up here. He wasn't even particularly sure on what his last memory was at all.

Outside, the wailing started again.

Only now, Bobby knew it was a human being, screaming on top of his lungs in so much pain that there was nothing human left. Pure, animal agony was reverberating through the whole place, and it made Bobby want to throw up.

Heaving with fear and sickness, Bobby hauled himself into some sort of upright position. His feet planted wide apart on the ground, his hands holding tightly to the edge of the bed, he just sat there until he was sure he wasn't going to keel over instantly.

The wail continued incessantly. Sometimes it rose, reaching a pitch that couldn't be maintained by anyone still caring for their vocal cords. Then it softened to a mere scream, as if the one screaming was loosing their strength after all.

For a heartbeat, Bobby caught himself wondering what the hell was possibly going on there, but then immediately decided that some questions better remained unasked and hopefully unanswered. Whatever made a human scream like this definitely was something he didn't want to make any further acquaintance with.

He had to get out of here, this much was clear. Cautiously, Bobby tried rising to his feet, smiling grimly when he managed a few wobbly steps on his own without falling face-first onto the floor.

His head was swimming as if he had been drugged. For a moment, Bobby wondered if this was how the boys felt after Julio Mostarda had drugged and raped them.

That last thought triggered some sliver of a memory in Bobby, and it filled him with cold dread. Julio Mostarda. That little bastard had been there last night, and the one thing Bobby clearly remembered was Julio's rage-twisted face when Bobby had told him he was about to leave for P2 in the morning. Bobby had just laughed at him, then, and soon forgot about him in the milling mass of people at the bar.

He should have known Julio would try something stupid.

Bobby walked out of the small room, still steadying himself with a hand on the wall. The screams came from the left, from somewhere deeper inside the building. So, naturally, Bobby turned right, staggering along the hallway, hoping to find a way out of this house of horrors.

A few meters down the hallway, Bobby remembered to look at his wristwatch. It was way after noon, he realized with another shock. Vian wanted to come over at eleven o'clock to pick him up. He had to call Vian, God only knew what he would do if he found Bobby missing. He had to tell him immediately that he would be late...

For a moment, Bobby unsuccessfully searched for his phone, but then the wail behind him stopped in a shrill, high-pitched gargle that abruptly kicked Bobby's mind into gear again.

"Oh god," he whispered to himself. "Vian..."

Slowly, Bobby turned around, facing the door at the far end of the hallway with renewed dread. Despite everything, he suddenly had a very clear idea of what he was going to find on the other side of it.

Slowly, but now a little steadier with every step, Bobby walked down the hallway. The wailing had stopped completely, now, but the utter silence that remained wasn't necessarily any better for Bobby's nerves. If at all, it felt even more oppressive than the screams that had filled the air the whole time before.

When Bobby reached the door, he hesitated for a heartbeat, his hand literally hovering over the doorknob. But with a shrug, Bobby kicked himself. After all, knowing almost always was better than wondering.

He opened the door and stepped through; entering a large room that once must have been a factory floor or a warehouse or something. Gray light was slanting along heavy, wooden beams that supported a roof of corrugated steel, and even with the slightly run-down look, the place was beautiful in a shabby, industrial way.

The scene on the floor in front of him, on the other hand, was everything else but beautiful.

Bobby was standing on a small platform a few meters above the floor, with two massive wooden staircases leading down on either side of him. Right in the middle of the room, Bobby could see Vian standing in front of large puddle of reddish goo, hunched over and breathing hard. There were chunks in the goo, and even though most of them were barely larger than an egg, Bobby could spot enough larger pieces from where he was standing to know that he was looking at a pile of finely shredded human remains. Remains of a human who had been screaming the whole time since Bobby had woken up.

Bobby hazarded a vague guess that said human had been Julio Mostarda.

“Vian?” Bobby asked, his shaky voice frail in the cavernous hall.

Instantly, Vian whisked around, still hunched, but alert and unquestionably worried. With a single leap that was less a bodily motion than a violent, telekinetic lurch, Vian jumped up onto the small platform Bobby was standing on. He put a steadying arm around him, surveying Bobby with impossibly large, green eyes.

“Are you okay?” he asked, only a few drops of blood and gore distracting from the fact that he was the most caring boyfriend in the entire Empire. “You seemed okay, but you were still out cold. Are you hurt?”

“I am fine,” Bobby replied, confused and scared and yet very much relieved that he could finally lean his head against his shoulder again. “Dazed, but I think not particularly damaged.”

“Good.” There was an unmistakeable threat still ringing in Vian’s voice, and Bobby shuddered at the thought of who he was still threatening considering what he had done to Julio. Presumably.

“Was that…” Bobby pointed at the chunky goo in the hall. “Was that Julio?”

Instead of a worded reply, Vian gave a snort that was both confirming and angered. “No more stupid mistakes for that one.”

“Improbable, yes.” On part of Bobby was scared to the bones that he was dating a guy who could react this vengefully. On the other hand, he had to admit that is was a damn cool feeling. Scary, still. “Can we go now? Please?”

Vian cast a last, annoyed glance at Julio’s remains, but then nodded and gently led Bobby down the stairs. Vian even gallantly tried to hold him in a way that he wouldn’t have to look at the worst when they passed what was left of Julio. It didn’t keep Bobby from identifying a dark, glossy chunk as a large part from Julio’s skull, though. The hair was still attached and still neatly gelled back in Julio’s trademark style.

Silently, Bobby wondered if it was a wise thing allowing him to get entangled in the lives of people who could and would kill without a second thought. Not that Vian had done anything illegal, far from it. Nor anything Bobby wouldn’t have wished for. Well, admittedly, except the torturing part.

Stakes definitely were higher when Phoenix Knights were involved.

“What a luck he didn’t hurt you,” Vian growled as soon as they were out of the building. “I really don’t know what I would have done if he had.”

It reads like Julio only wanted for Bobby to miss leaving with Vian.* nervous smile*Sweet little cuddly Vian, up to this point you've mislabeled him. Yes, blood does tell, Vian is a Dracon. Bad temper *sighs* yeah, you could say that.And HE's afraid of what Wayne will do to him when he finds out about dating Bobby??

Unfortunately, Julio definitely had worse in mind when he kidnapped Bobby. Not that it mattered one way or another.

And no, we haven't mislabeled Vian - he IS sweet and cuddly to his family and to Bobby and to Wayne. Only when someone threatens his family, he shows that he is rather a son of Colin than of Yaden. There IS a good reason for Vian being super-close to Daddy Teagan, after all. :)Also, Vian isn't afraid of Wayne, he worries that he will lose the playful cameraderie that the two of them have established when Bobby enters the mix. It's only a matter of time until he breaks down and tells Wayne everything, though.

Loved it... Julio was an idiot and basically commited suicide... Poor Vian, he must have been so worried... typical warrior, terrified of the other half being 'cross' but will tear anyone else limb from limb

Such a fitting ending for Julio :D He really should know better than to kidnap the pretty boyfriend of an almost-Phoenix Knight! Although I think my favorite was the way that Vian handled the uncle... so calm and confident. No need for intimidating tactics or threats, just cold, evil promises :)

Do we ever get to see the story behind Wayne and Vian? Like... was Wayne his first pet? How did their meeting go? Things like that. I am SUCH a sucker for those first meeting stories!

Hehe, yes, Vian and Wayne were a pretty cute story. No plans to write that one, though, yet. Much more more exciting things to write. But your interest has been duly noted, story has been moved up a few notches.